The Italian Wars, eften referred tae as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars o Italy an whiles as the Habsburg–Valois Wars or the Renaissance Wars, war a series o conflicts frae 1494 tae 1559 that involved, at various times, maist o the ceety-states o Italy, the Papal States, the Republic o Venice, maist o the major states o Wastren Europe (France, Spain, the Haly Roman Empire, Ingland, an Scotland) as weel as the Ottoman Empire. Oreeginally arisin frae dynastic disputes ower the Duchy o Milan an the Kinrick o Naples, the wars becam a general struggle for pouer an territory amang thair various pairteecipants, an war merkit wi an increasin nummer o alliances, coonter-alliances, an betrayals.